Guide and abrading device for a honing tool



GUIDE AND ABRADING DEVICE FOR A HONING TOOL Filed March 18, 1958 INVENTOR. 4/ M wail ef MW q [iii

United States Patent 2,991,597 GUIDE AND ABRADING DEVICE FOR A HONING TOOL Glen M. Calvert, Detroit, Mich., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Jes-Cal Company, Fraser, Mich, acorporation of Michigan Filed Mar. 18, 1958, Ser. No. 722,333 1 Claim. (Cl. 51-204) This invention relates to honing apparatus and particularly to a unitary or combined guide and abrading device for a honing tool utilized to hone during its operation a plurality or series of workpieces arranged in juxtaposition or an elongate workpiece ported to preclude accurate honing.

In accordance with the present embodiment of the invention the honing tool is provided with a number of circumferentially spaced abrading elements or honing members each comprising a stone holder having an abrading stone cemented or otherwise mounted therein. Combined with each stoneholder or abrading device and formed as a unit therewith and disposed at opposite ends thereof are guide devices which function to hold in proper relation the juxtaposed workpieces being simultaneously honed or portions of a workpiece at opposite sides or ends of a relatively wide or long port or aperture in the cylindrical wall thereof. Thus, as an object and important feature of the present invention each abrading device or honing stone unit is formed as a unitary part of guide means effective to engage continuously a plurality of workpieces or a ported workpiece and maintain the bores thereof or the axes of the honing device and workpiece in proper axial relation.

A further object of the invention is to provide a combined guide and abrading device for a honing tool, said device being preferably molded from plastic material and having a stone holder in the form of partial stone confining means terminating at both ends thereof in elongate guide means. Said guide means preferably comprises hollow shell-like members forming unitary extensions of a member fabricated or molded to form the holder for the honing stone.

Honing apparatus embodying the unitary guide and abrading devices of the present invention may be utilized for honing the bores of various types of workpieces, such as honing in unison the bores of a plurality of connecting rods, gears, and other workpieces used, for example, in internal combustion engines or air cylinders. By way of example only, the illustrated mechanism is shown in honing relation to five juxtaposed workpieces indicated diagrammatically. As further example, a juxtaposed pair of connecting rods or an elongate ported workpiece could be substituted for the indicated workpieces.

Other objects of this invention will appear in the following description and appended claim, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

FIG. 1 is a view partly in section illustrating a honing apparatus embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an end view taken from line 22 of FIG. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 3 is a perspective View of the unitary guide and abrading device.

FIG. 4 is a front side view of the device shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a section taken through lines 55 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a section taken through lines 66 of FIG. 3.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

In the drawings there is illustrated a honing tool or apparatus which is attachable at its upper or driven end to the conventional machine spindle. The honing tool, depending upon the type of machine with which it is used, may extend either vertically, or at an angle such as 45, or horizontally. In the present instance the tool is shown in a vertical position, although it is understood that this is merely for illustrative purposes.

In accordance with the present embodiment the honing tool is provided with a tubular body or honing tool spindle 10 provided at its lower end with an abrading head 19a which, in the present instance, is formed integrally with the spindle. The upper or machine end of the spindle 10 is indicated at 10b. 'For the purpose of drivingly connecting the tool to the machine spindle there is provided an attaching collar 11 mounted on the upper end 1% of the tool spindle and provided with internal threads 11a adapted to be screwed onto the nose of the machine spindle (not shown). Also mounted on the tool spindle 10 is a tool spindle driving sleeve 12 having a radial driving flange 12a having a hole or slot 13 to receive the machine spindle driving pin and by means of which the sleeve 12 is driven. The sleeve 12 is rigidly attached to the spindle 10 such as by means of one or more locking pins 14.

Mounted around the body of the spindle 10 is a ball race ring 15 which is keyed or connected to the spindle by means of a bolt 16. A second ball race ring 17 is positioned in juxtaposed relation to the ball race 15. Interposed between these ball races are anti-friction ball bearings, as shown in FIG. 1. A compression spring 18 encircles the spindle 10 and has its upper end in engagement with the ball race ring 17. The lower end of this spring abuts against a bearing sleeve portion 19a which is freely mounted on the spindle.

In the present instance the sleeve 19a comprises a lower radially inward extension of a trip arm sleeve 19 freely mounted on the ball race rings 15 and 17. Screwed on the upper end of sleeve 19 is a collar 20 carrying a radial limit switch trip arm 21 which is shiftable longitudinally with the sleeve 19 but held against rotation in conjunction with the tool spindle.

Mounted on the sleeve 19 is a gauge ring adapter or support sleeve 23 which has internal threads engaging external threads on the sleeve 19. The threaded connection between the sleeves 20 and 23 provides adjusting means by which the axial position of the adapter sleeve 23 can be varied, thereby varying the axial position of the gauge or sizing ring, hereinafter dmcribed. The sleeve 23 is held in adjusted position by means of a spanner nut 24 threaded onto the sleeve 19 and is provided at its lower end with an inwardly projecting boss or enlargement 25 to which is secured a lock ring 27. The opposed faces of the boss 25 and the lock ring 27 are separated to provide an annular space or channel.

The honing tool is provided with gauge or sizing means comprising a cylindrical body member 29 freely embracing the spindle and shiftable axially relative thereto. This body member, which is in the form of a gauge ring or sleeve, is formed with an upper annular flange 29a freely projecting into the channel between the locking ring 27 and retainer flange 25. The axial width of this annular channel or space slightly exceeds the axial thickness of the flange 29a and is sufiicient to permit the flange to shift laterally or transversely of the spindle without appreciable frictional resistance Within the channel. vThe internal diameter of the sizing ring or sleeve 29 is appreciably greater than the external diameter of the spindle at the locality of the sizing ring so as to permit the latter to shift or float relativev to the spindle a substantial amount, such as from tento thirty thousandths of an inch, depending upon the type of work being honed.

The outer end of the sizing ring or gauge body 29 is machined to provide preferably four equally and annularly spaced longitudinal slots or grooves 31. Cemented or otherwise anchored in these grooves or slots are hardened or wear resisting gauge inserts or gauging elements 32 in the form of carbide tips which project radially a slight distance outwardly of the gauge body and are accurately machined at their outer surfaces to providearcuate gauging or sizing surfaces. The outer diameter across each pair of opposed gauge inserts corresponds to the desired diameter of the finished bores of the workpiece.

The abrading head ltla, which forms an extension of the tool spindle, is slotted to receive six annularly spaced combined guide and abrading devices, each as a whole being designated 33. These devices project into tapered slots 34 in a cone member 35. The cone member is connected by a pin 36 to a cone rod or shaft 37 extending freely through the tool spindle 10. The cone rod is provided at its upper end with a connector member or adapter piece 38 for attachment to the usual hydraulic mechanism of the machine which is operable to shift the cone rod axially of the spindle.

'Ihe abrading head a is machined to provide through slots 39 terminating in curved or arcuate ends. Having a working fit Within these slots and extending freely therethrough are the combined guide and abrading devices 33. Each device in the preferred embodiment is in the form of an elongate shell or casing, preferably of thermoplastic material, having a tapered or cam-like bottom surface 40 engaged by the tapered surface 35a formed at the bottom of each slot 34 in cone member 35. By virtue of these cooperating tapered or cam surfaces the abrading devices will be expanded radially within the bores of the workpieces upon adjustably shifting the cone rod 37 downwardly.

The body of the guide and abrading unit 33 is, pursuant to the illustrated embodiment of the invention, molded localities intermediate the end walls by transverse partitions or partition Walls 45. By virtue of the foregoing construction it will be seen that each unit 33 is formed at opposite ends thereof with hollow elongate shell-like guide members 46 each having the four integrally joined free edges of the walls 41, 42, 44 and providing guide edges or portions simultaneously engageable within the bores of a plurality of workpieces.

The front wall 41 of the glide and abrading unit 33 is molded or otherwise formed with a longitudinal notch 47, the ends thereof terminating at the partitions or partition walls 45. There is thus provided a stone holding seat or recess open at the front by virtue of the notch 47, closed at opposite ends by the walls 45 and closed at the back by a wall portion 42a forming part of the rear Wall 42 but preferably reduced in thickness as shown in FIG. 6. The base of the stone holding seat or recess is formed in the present instance by a series of spaced rib-like members 4-8 integrally joined to the bottom wall 43 and the front and rear walls 41, 42a. Firmly cemented within each stone holding recess to the edges of the members 48 and to the wall portions 42a, 45' is a square sided abrasive or honing stone 49 having its outer exposed working face disposed flush with or in the same 4 plane as the exposed edge portions of the walls 45. By reason of the notch 47 the front side of the stone is also exposed, this side being disposed or facing in the direction of rotation of the tool spindle.

It will be seen that the guide and honing devices embodying the present invention are particularly useful where a plurality or series of workpieces are honed in unison, such for example as the workpieces indicated at W in FIG. 1. In accordance with practice, although the plurality of workpieces, namely two or more, are suitably held in face toface abutting relation, they are not clamped so as to be incapable of some small independent lateral float or displacement one relative to another. Unless controlled during the honing operation this would cause adjacent workpieces to get out of full depth axial alignment and result in impairment of the workpiece bore at and beyond the entering end of the honing stones to such extent as to require discard of the workpiece. In order to meet this problem it has been the practice to provide a series of separate guides disposed in alternating relation to the honing devices and mechanism for expanding these guides against the workpiece bore, see for example United States Patents Nos. 2,790,277 and 2,790,278. In addition to the considerable expense involved in the incorporation of such guide means in the tool, it also involves the expense of replacement of the separate guides when changing or replacing the honing stone devices. The foregoing is eliminated by virtue of the present invention wherein each honing stone is economically combined as a unit with a pair of guides alternately and simultaneously functioning during reciprocation of the tool within adjacent workpiece bores, each guide operating to fully and accurately align the bore of one workpiece with the bore of an adjacent workpiece during the honing thereof and also during the interval that both bores are being honed in part. Said guides also function simultaneously to align a plurality of workpieces. In addition, where a single elongated workpiece is provided with a port or ports in the bore Wall thereof wider or longer than the honing stone, the guide members 46 will bracket or straddle the port, prevent the honing stone from being tilted or partially displaced into the port. Thus, in all instances the guide members will have simultaneous and substantial dimensional guiding engagement with spaced workpiece bore portions.

It is understood that the material of the stone holding and guide portions of the device, such as plastic or soft metallic compositions, is such that all bore engaging portions thereof wear down uniformly with the associated honing stone portion. It is important to observe that the guide members are hollow or shell-like, thus minimizing friction, reducing materially the pressure necessary to hone and hence eliminating distortion of the thin walls of the guide members, substantially eliminating undesirable shrinkage and ensuring most accurate results.

I claim:

In a guiding and honing element for a honing apparatus of the type including an abrasive stone, a unitary, hollow stone support and guide of elongate shell-like configuration comprising a longitudinally extending front wall, a longitudinally extending rear wall spaced from and parallel with said front wall, said walls being interconnected at their ower edges by an angularly disposed bottom wall and being interconnected at their ends by curved end walls, a pair of transverse partitions interconnecting said front and rear walls intermediate their ends, whereby recesses are defined at both ends of the support and guide by and between said partitions, and said front, rear, and curved end walls, a rectangular notch in the upper edge of said front wall extending the distance between said partitions, and a plurality of ribs interconnecting said front and rear walls between said partitions, the upper edges of said ribs being coplanar with 5 the lower edge of said notch to define with said partitions and said rear wall opposite said notch a stone seat, and the upper edges of said front and rear walls extending in both directions away from said stone seat defining guides for the guiding and honing element while in the 5 work.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,467,094 Peden Apr. 12, 1949 2,749,682 Patrito June 12, 1956 2,790,277 Calvert Apr. 30, 1957 

